True Friends
by impossiblypossible
Summary: Funny one-shot. Eames convinces Ariadne to tell Arthur how she feels about him. Arthur/Ariadne all the way! There's some Ariadne and Eames friendship. Rated T for language.


A/N: I own NOTHING. Christopher Nolan is a GENIUS. I love Inception. And I will marry Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who, by the way, I saw filming his new movie in NYC a couple days ago. I almost died).

The later reference to cool hwhip is from this video: .com/watch?v=lich59xsjik

Thanks for reading! Review and tell me what you think! This will probably just be a one-shot but I have a few story ideas that I want to try (Arthur/Ariadne of course) if I generate enough interest.

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The streets were bare. The sun was barely beginning its rise into the dim, morning sky. Here and there, windows checkered among tall buildings would become illuminated, dark silhouettes stepping into view. As she walked casually to work, earphones in place, large, leather shoulder bag slinging around its place at her hip, Ariadne bobbed to the tune of the music, stumbling every once in a while over a loose rock. Coming up to the warehouse that she had come to know as 'home', Ariadne grasped the cool handle in her tiny hand and yanked the door back. It slid open easily, and she skipped into the large one-room building, slamming the door behind her.

Glancing around, she found that she was the only one there. It was too quiet and still for that not to be true. It was awfully early, 5 am to be exact. She could understand why her co-workers weren't around just yet.

Browsing around the room, her eyes caught on the desks of her aforementioned co-workers. Each workspace so clearly fit each of the men's personalities so perfectly that she couldn't help the small smirk that began to creep onto her face.

Cobb's workspace was relatively tidy, a few loose papers sprinkled the floor around his chair and the trashcan was overflowing. But what was most noticeable was that the area around his desk was decked out in children's drawings, juvenile stick figures and square shaped homes with triangle rooftops. But they served as constant reminders of why he was still doing Inception. After Saito made the call and got Cobb back into the states, the whole team relocated to Los Angeles. Shortly after, Cobb had started working with them again, much to their delight, and now they only did jobs that they wanted, instead of ones forced upon them.

Her eyes shifted to the right and landed on Eames' desk. She couldn't stop the giggle that bubbled out of her. Eames had truly become an older brother to her. They loved to pick on each other, and shared several secret jokes that irritated the rest of the team. Eames' desk was a total nightmare, much like hers. She had the mind of an artist, so she was allowed to be messy, but Eames really only did it to piss off Cobb and Arthur. She could clearly remember when he told her that, it was their bonding moment.

"_Love, you look tired. Care to grab some grub and get your beautiful self home?" Eames questioned, coming up to Ariadne's desk after realizing that they were the only two ones left in the warehouse._

"_What time is it?" she asked, scrambling to grab her phone to check. "Holy shit! It's 3 am! I guess I should get home, huh?" she questioned, as her stomach let out a low, deep grumble. "Or we could go eat, seeing as my stomach is pretty much insisting" she continued, with a sheepish smile._

"_To the bat mobile, love!" Eames exclaimed, handing her bag to her and then pointing to the door with mock crazy eyes and a foolish stance. _

"_You're out of control, you crazy brit. Let's go." She giggled, following him as he pretended to fly out of the warehouse. _

"_Where's your sense of imagination, love?"_

"_Have you __**met**__ me?" she queried, shooting him a look that he couldn't help but laugh at._

"_Right then, my bad. I know this great Italian place…" he said, ushering her into the car._

"_So Eames, tell me something about yourself" she prompted, wrapping her petite hands around her steaming cup of coffee._

"_What? Like a secret? Are we high school girls now? Should I come sit next to you and braid your hair?" he sniped, evoking a giggle from her. _

"_Secret for a secret?" she offered._

"_And suddenly this is more interesting. Okay, but if you tell anyone this, I will take you into a dream and kill you. Mostly because that's about all I can do to you. Damn you for being so adorable!" he ranted, winking at her. "Anyway" he continued "I know I like to bug the shit out of Arthur…" he said, earning a snort from his companion, at which he glared. "buuuuuut….I still consider him one of my very best friends" he finished, sheepishly._

"_Awwww how cute! You know, your friendship with him might actually go somewhere if you were to, say, stop teasing him" Ariadne offered._

"_Do you honestly think I'd get any other emotion out of him if I didn't screw with him?" Eames questioned, watching as Ariadne nodded her head, raising an eyebrow to indicate she understood. "Moving on" he continued, "your turn for a secret!"_

"_Okay, let's see….I have an older brother. His name is Charles." She said, with a small smile, as Eames eyes showed nothing but shock._

"_Really? We don't really know much about your family life. We tried to find things out-protocol dear, you understand, can't hire someone for this kind of job without knowing who we're hiring-but no mention of any family came up…"_

"_That's because Charles is really the only family I have…my parents died in a car accident when I was 10. Charles and I were in the car, but we survived the crash, our parents were D.O.A. Both of our grandparents died when we were little, and mom and dad were both only children, so we had no relatives.." she said, looking down. Eames reached across the table, laying his hand atop hers and offering his condolences._

"_It's okay, I mean I've moved on. Charles and I relied on each other for a very long time and now…well we're best friends. He's so funny. He's the artsy type, like me. But while I make buildings, he makes statues out of weird materials. He says it's his 'signature' or whatever." She continued, her eyes lighting up as she spoke._

From that day on, she and Eames had an unspoken bond. They had become like family. They made fun of each other and shot sarcastic comments back and forth-which Cobb, Yusef and Arthur found very amusing-but they also had their tender moments that confused their co-workers.

As her eyes continued to shift around the room, she saw Yusef's almost bare desk. Instead, he chose to use the giant portable white board that was currently leaning against the wall behind his desk. To be fair, he didn't really use that either. He preferred to use the back right corner of the warehouse, where he could mix chemicals together and try to create new things. If you looked closely over there, you could probably see several large black marks, where whatever he had mixed had obviously blown up. Ariadne giggled as she thought about the time he had burned his eyebrows off. It was quiet, too quiet, and out of nowhere a loud bang sounded, followed by a string of expletives, and then a disgruntled, eyebrow-less Yusef stormed into their side of the warehouse, and she, Cobb, Eames and Arthur could not help but laugh.

Shaking the memory, her eyes continued to rove across the room, when they ended on Arthur's desk. His workspace was tidied up, not a paper or pen out of place. Everything was so calm, cool and collected, much like the boy himself. Arthur was extremely important to her, they had a unique, confusing relationship. He had requested a kiss from her, under the ploy that it was a distraction for the projections, when they had first worked together under the Fischer job. Neither had really addressed the kiss, they both let it fall by the wayside, both waiting for the other to say something. Ariadne was too unsure of the strong feelings she was feeling to speak up, and Arthur was too afraid of rejection, or worse, ending up like Cobb and Mal, to do anything himself. They were quite the pitiful pair.

And now here it was, a year later, nothing had been done to get them together, and neither had made any advances towards moving on. They were stuck in their own version of limbo in reality. She has lost count of the number of times she has complained to Eames about the situation, over a cup of coffee. It's the same every time-she complains, he listens, offers advice, she apologizes for being a girl and dragging him into 'girl talk' and he chuckles, flicks his wrist and says in his best girly voice "_girlfriend! That's what I'm here for!"_

A loud slam behind her drew Ariadne from her thoughts, as she whipped around to investigate. Cobb had just strolled in, toting his leather briefcase, and a bright smile.

"What are you all smiley about?" she questioned, as he nodded his head in greeting before setting his briefcase down on his desk.

"Nothing. I just-the joys of fatherhood, ya know? Those kids are so magical. I can't describe it. You'll know one day." Another loud thump sounded, alerting Ariadne and Cobb to a third, and fourth, presence.

"Arthur, Yusef" Cobb greeted, nodding his head at each.

"Hey guys!" Ariande chirped, swiveling around to look at each of them, her gaze resting longer on Arthur.

"Morning lovely" Yusef said absentmindedly, dashing off to his corner.

"Morning Ariande" Arthur replied, a small smile forming on his lips as he took in her appearance. She was wearing black skinny jeans-jeans that fit her _very_ well- and a red plaid button up shirt, her trademark scarf in place. Today's was white, no pattern, just plain white. A blank slate, he mused. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he made his way to his desk, as she went to hers.

Pulling out her sketch pad, Ariadne began working on a sketch for a cityscape. An hour or so later, the warehouse door opened yet again and in walked Eames. He strolled right up to Ariadne's desk, drawing the attention of the rest of the team members, especially a certain point man.

"Hello love" he spoke, clearly scaring her as she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"You asshole! Don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed, holding a hand to her chest, the other reaching out to swipe against his chest. Sending another glare his way, she picked up her pencil and started sketching again.

"You love me. So, why aren't you dropping everything you're doing to converse with me?"

"Why aren't you more appealing?" she quipped back, setting him with a glare, to which he rolled his eyes.

"Someone is sassy today" he spoke, raising an eyebrow. "Anyway…I was wondering if you had talked to a certain _someone_ yet?" he asked. Eames had asked her to set him up with her brother's friend, Joella.

"I called, but I got her machine."

"Her answering machine?" he asked.

"No, interestingly enough, the vacuum picked up. Had a nice chat about the wife and kids" she quipped, rolling her eyes and turning back to her sketches as Eames let out a snort and a sarcastic laugh.

Leaving her workspace, Eames ventured into Arthur's area, jumping and sliding onto Arthur's desk, earning him a glare.

"So love, let's chat" Eames said, sending a quick glance towards Ariadne, who had a terrified look on her face.

"About what?" Arthur asked, clearly annoyed.

"How about we start with that stick up your arse. We should really get that checked out. Have you seen a doctor yet? I'm sure they could get you some happy pills…"

"Fuck you Eames" Arthur snapped, rolling his eyes, as Ariadne walked over, slapping Eames on the shoulder.

"Ouch! Love! Quit hitting me! What was that for?"

"Don't exacerbate the situation by aggravating Arthur!" she exclaimed, glaring at him.

"Don't use words I can't understand!" he shot back, as she felt her anger dissolve and couldn't help the small giggle that left her mouth, followed by one from Arthur. Eames rolled his eyes and muttered something about 'bloody lovesick teenagers' before hopping off Arthur's desk and skipping off.

"You and Eames have an interesting relationship…" Arthur spoke eventually, genuinely intrigued by the two.

"we understand each other. Let's just say we had a heart to heart." She replied, fingering her scarf as her eyes shifted between Arthur's eyes and her hands.

"Interesting…" he continued, as Ariadne gave him a small, but still heart melting, smile, and turned on her heel, going back to her desk.

Hours later, around lunchtime, Ariadne was still hard at work when she heard a soft thump on the corner of her desk. Eyes shooting up, she saw all 4 of her team members staring into her face.

"Can I help you creepers?" she asked, eyebrow perfectly (sexily) arched, Arthur noticed.

"Love, you were working so hard you worked through lunch. We came to check on you. And brought you some pie! Yusef made it! It's totally legit too-we all had some and we're still standing." Eames said cheerily, inching the pie towards her before pulling a can of cool whip out from behind his back.

"Care for some cool _**hwh**_ip with that?" he asked, a large grin on his face that matched hers, as the other 3 looked on in confusion.

" I should not have shown you that video! I _knew_ I'd come to regret it! Oh well. Sure, pass the cool _**hwh**_ip." She said, grabbing it from his hand.

"I will never understand you two…" Cobb said, scratching his head and walking off, dragging Yusef with him. Arthur remained standing where he was, looking between Eames and Ariadne.

"What is up with you two? You're not…like…um….dating, are you?" he asked, a look of pure jealousy clouding his eyes.

"No, not dating…engaged." Eames stepped in, smiling and wrapping an arm around Ariadne's waist as Arthur's eyes grew huge.

"Ew! Sick! Nasty! Hell to the no. I don't know what kind of sick game you're trying to play but hands off bucko. You and me never have and never WILL happen. Love you though!" she said, smirking when she saw the relief flood over Arthur's face and giggling when she took in Eames' hurt face.

"I am hurt. Deeply wounded. Make it up to me." He demanded, hand over his heart as the other moved to reside on his forehead as he tilted his head back, as if in distress.

"Fine. The things I do for you. How about coffee, tonight, 9 pm? Anabelle's?" she asked as Eames' head snapped forward and a grin took over his face as he nodded and skipped off. She looked back at Arthur just in time to catch the jealous look on his face before he controlled it.

"it's kind of our bonding thing…we try to go once a week, just to talk. That's kind of how this sick and twisted friendship started." She rambled, not wanting him to worry at all. It must have worked a bit because he allowed a smirk to float onto his face as he nodded in understanding and went back to his desk.

Around 6 pm, Ariadne had reached her first problem of the day. Biting her bottom lip between her teeth and narrowing her eyes in on the fork in the road, she let out a disgruntled groan, alerting Arthur. He stood up and strode over to where she was, resting his hand on the table near hers.

"What's up?" he asked, noticing how his heart skipped a beat when she placed her hand beside his, their pinkies brushing.

"See this intersection right here?" she asked, pointing to an intersection that could have 3 different outcomes.

"Yeah, I see it…" he asked, urging her to carry on.

"I just don't know…I mean, I don't know how to close this up so the mark only has one way to go and I mean I guess technically he could go any of the 3 ways and it will end him up in the same place but how will we know where we go? I can't just close them up by putting actual buildings or whatever there because it will affect the outcome of the rest of the cityscape." she said, still worrying her bottom lip, which Arthur found incredibly adorable. He couldn't help but imagining her soft lips ghosting against his, and he was so caught up in that thought that he almost forgot to answer her.

"Oh. Um. I guess I see your point. You could make two of the three points 'under construction' so no one will go there" he offered, pleased with himself as he saw the bright smile form on her face. Without thinking, she turned to him, flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Slowly, he snaked his arms around her waist, hugging her back just as tightly.

"Thank god! Thank you thank you thank you!" she exclaimed, kissing his cheek, as he relished in the feeling.

"Now I don't have to redo everything. You seriously just saved my night." She continued, releasing him from her tight hold and giving him a heart stopping smile. The smile began to falter as she realized what she had just done-kissing Arthur and hugging him like that? What the hell was that? What was she? Some kind of love sick teenaged fool? She could not believe she had just done that. Arthur could see her internal struggle and wanted to ease the embarrassment for her so he released her from his arms and lightly gripped her arm, staring into her eyes and told her it was no problem.

He turned around to go back to his desk and Ariadne watched as he walked away, resting her chin in her hand, sighing.

"Lovesick, huh?" Eames asked, having appeared right next to her.

"YOU FUCKER!" she exclaimed. "I said STOP" she slapped his upper arm "DOING" she slapped him again "THAT!" she hit him one last time, extra hard.

"Ow! Christ Ariadne! When did you get so damn strong?" he whined, gripping his upper arm. Cobb, Yusef and Arthur were gathered around Arthur's desk, all quietly laughing at the scene before them. Eames sent them all glares and walked away from her desk, pouting the whole time.

"So you're telling me that if I tell Arthur how I feel about him, you swear to god you'll dress up like Hannah Montana for a day? Blonde wig, dress, heels and all? The whole sha-bang?" Ariande questioned, nursing her cup of coffee as she sat in the warm booth across from Eames.

"Cross my heart and hope to die" he said dramatically, as he watched her pull out paper and a pen. She began to scribble furiously before sliding it across to him.

His eyes scanned over the paper quickly, a smirk appearing on his face. _I, Eames Hardy, solemnly swear to dress like Hannah Montana for a full day, dress, wig, make-up, heels and all, if Ariadne Walters tells Arthur how she feels about him. _Below, Ariadne had signed her name, and she nudged the pen over to his side of the table, indicating that he do the same.

Sighing loudly and rolling his eyes, he gripped the pen and signed the paper. He would hold up his end of the deal… he knew he'd have to. Ariadne had become like a sister to him and he could see how in love she and Arthur were with each other so he figured he'd take one for the team.

Cackling loudly, she snatched the paper from him and placed it back into her bag, a huge grin on her face. A bundle of nerves had settled in the pit of her stomach, in the form of nerves, but seeing Eames in a blonde wig and a dress would make all of it oh so worth it. And if Arthur happened to like her too, it would make it the best day ever.

"Okay. I'll text you tomorrow morning when it's done. You come to work in costume tomorrow." She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the booth after she stood and grabbed her bag.

"We just got here! Where the hell are we going?" he exclaimed, not wanting to go back out into the cold.

"To get your outfit for tomorrow, Ms. Montana!" she giggled, pulling him out of the café as he groaned, regretting what he had gotten himself into.

The next morning, Ariadne woke up with a smile on her face. Today was sure to be the best day ever. Quickly rinsing off in the shower, she slipped on a pair of dark denim skinny jeans, followed by long sleeved 'Columbia' shirt. She sent a quick text message to Arthur, Yusef and Cobb telling them they might want to bring their cameras to work today. Putting her long red coat on over her Columbia shirt, she smoothed out her hair, slipped some mascara onto her lashes, grabbed her bag and headed to the warehouse. By the time she was 2 blocks away, her nerves had grown immensely.

She eventually approached the sliding door of the warehouse and again gripped the familiar handle in her hand, sliding it back and stepping in, closing it behind her. Arthur sat before her, at his desk, his nose deep in research. She hated to interrupt him but this was really for the best. Arthur glanced up and saw her, shooting her a small smile and questioning glance.

"Why did you tell me to bring my camera?" he asked, intrigued by the girl who was now standing in front of him, shaking from nerves.

"You brought one right?" she exclaimed, forgetting her nerves for a second. But they returned as she saw him nod in response.

She took a deep breath. "Here goes…" she mumbled to herself.

"Arthur, I ….fuck. I don't know how to even say this. When you kissed me in that dream? That was like performing inception on me. I can't stop thinking about you now. Being friends with you just isn't enough for me! I can't help it. I just, I….why do you have to be so god dammed amazing? Can't you just suck a little bit in some way? Can't you have a SINGLE fault that I could latch onto and get over you? Damn you for being so fucking perfect!" she ranted, growing redder and more nervous as she spoke. She missed the huge smile that overtook his face as he stood up before her. Her head snapped up as he took her hands in his and smiled down at her.

"I'm far from perfect, but you on the other hand….Ariadne..I have tried to reason with myself and convince myself that this was a bad idea but I just….I cannot quit thinking about you and….that scares the shit out of me. I haven't ever felt like this before. I just….what if we end up like Cobb and Mal?" he questioned, worry taking over his flawless features as he averted his gaze.

Reaching up to run her hand through his slicked back hair, she directed his eyes to hers.

"Arthur. We aren't Cobb and Mal. We are completely different people. We don't have to take their experience as a warning against being together. We can just learn from their mistakes. We won't share dreams together. We'll figure it out. We'll make it work!" she exclaimed, letting the palm of her hand rest on his cheek.

"Good enough for me" he murmured, before leaning down and capturing her lips with his. He cupped her face in his hands as her arms snaked around his neck, pulling him closer. They didn't hear the door open and close, or the slow whistle that escaped their co-workers' mouths.

"Bout damn time!" Cobb exclaimed, smiling at Ariadne and clapping Arthur on the back.

"Which one of you ponied up first and what made you _finally_ do it?" Yusef questioned, and suddenly the mischievous glint was back in Ariadne's eyes.

"Whoa. That's scary." Cobb commented, looking at the wild, excited look in her eyes, as Yusef nodded in assent.

"Because you asked, I am the one who, how did you put it, 'ponied up first'. And you want to know what made me finally do it?" she asked, watching as all three nodded their heads. Taking out her phone, she sent a text to Eames saying the deed was done and it was his turn to hold up his end of the deal.

"Boys, you have your cameras, right?" she asked, a smirk in place.

"Yeah…" they all responded, worried.

"Get them ready." She said, as they all retrieved them and turned them on. Moments later, Eames walked through the door, a blonde wig atop his head, a short sequined purple dress adorning his body, silver knee high boots sitting on his feet, and a fake microphone in his hand. He had make-up smeared on his face and he looked absolutely miserable. He perked up a bit as he saw Ariadne's hand in Athur's, and sent her a wink.

Yusef, Cobb and Arthur could not stop laughing and snapping pictures of their co-worker.

"Screw ALL OF YOU." Eames exclaimed, indignantly. "I am going to work in my corner" he said, tripping a bit in his heels.

"Don't worry about it Eames…_Nobody's Perfect!"_ Ariadne exclaimed, as Yusef, Arthur and Cobb laughed harder.

"Yeah _Rockstar,_ don't be mad at us! We're an _Ordinary Girl_….._Just like you!" _Cobb choked out, between laughs.

"Eames, chin up! _Life's What You Make it!_ And right now, I'm pretty sure you're _One in A Million"_ Yusef continued, barely able to contain his laughter long enough to talk.

"Just tell me, do you have the party with you?" Arthur quipped, as Eames groaned.

"Fuck all of you" he griped.

"It's okay Eames….You're a _True Friend_" Ariadne said, giggling as he glared at her.


End file.
